2 MILF Rebels Killed In Basilan Clash

ISABELA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 09, 2009) – Marine soldiers clashed with Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels before dawn Monday, killing two gunmen in the southern Filipino province of Basilan, where security forces are pursuing kidnappers holding six hostages, officials said.

Officials said the fighting erupted at around 2 a.m. in the town of Akbar after marines searching for the captives came under fire from rebel forces.

Two rebels killed in the fighting and that troops recovered their bodies, including two automatic rifles and grenades.

Officials said those killed were wearing MILF uniform and patches with markings “Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces,” the military wing of the rebel group which has been fighting for the establishment of a separate Muslim homeland in Mindanao.

The MILF has denied those killed were rebels, but kidnappers. “They were members of a kidnapped-for-ransom gang under a certain Commander Pula. They were not MILF rebels and they were killed in an ambush staged by the military,” Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Kabalu said three kidnappers were killed in the ambush.

Marine Brigadier General Rustico Guerrero said soldiers were tracking down the kidnappers who are allied with the MILF. He said the gangs are still holding six people – a boy and a lending firm employee seized in Basilan and three teachers and a bakery owner kidnapped in Zamboanga City and brought to the province.

“There is an ongoing operation and we are tracking down the kidnappers and their innocent victims,” he said in a separate interview. (Mindanao Examiner)

Sayyaf Militant Killed In Basilan Island Raid

BASILAN ISLAND, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 05, 2007) – Government soldiers killed an Abu Sayyaf militant after storming Monday a hideout of the al-Qaeda-linked group in the southern Philippine island of Basilan, officials said.

Officials said soldiers attacked the hideout on a remote village called Bato-Bato in Akbar town at around 5.30 a.m. sparking a firefight that killed the gunman.

“One terrorist is killed in the raid and troops are still pursuing several more who managed to escape during the fighting,” Major Eugene Batara, a regional army spokesman, told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said troops recovered an M16 automatic rifle from the slain militant. There were no reports of military casualties, he said.

The Abu Sayyaf, which means “bearer of the sword,” initially was fighting for Muslim homeland after Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, founded the group in the late 1980s.

But the group, mostly made up of former Moro National Liberation front rebels, resorted to banditry and terrorism after Janjalani was killed in a firefight with policemen in Basilan island in 1989.

Washington listed the group as a foreign terrorist organization after the Abu Sayyaf abducted a US citizen, Guillermo Sobero, and beheaded him in 2001. The group was also linked in many kidnappings of foreigners, including three US nationals; one of them was later shot during a rescue operation in Zamboanga del Norte province. (Mindanao Examiner)

RP Troops Kill 2 Sayyaf Terrorists

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 05 Jul) – Two Abu Sayyaf militants, whose group is tied to al-Qaeda terror network, were killed in clash with security forces on Thursday in the southern Philippine island of Basilan, officials said.

Officials said one of those killed was believed to be a local commander. The fighting erupted in the village of Bohe Bessey in Akbar town after marine troops clashed with about 30 Abu Sayyaf gunmen.

“Two Abu Sayyafs are killed and one of them was a local terrorist leader Panjang Mohammad,” Colonel Ramiro Alivio, commander of the 1st Marine Brigade on the island, told the regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

Colonel Alivio said troops recovered three Abu Sayyaf rifles in the village. There were no reports of military casualties, he said.

The operation, he said, was part of campaign to rid the island of Abu Sayyaf terrorists.

Army Lieutenant General Eugenio Cedo, a regional military chief, said they have mounted a new offensive dubbed Oplan: Ultimatum on July 1 against the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya on nearby island of Jolo in the Sulu Archipelago.

The offensive is aimed at capturing senior Abu Sayyaf leaders headed by its Yasser Igasan and two Jemaah Islamiya terrorists Dulmatin and Umar Patek, tagged as behind the deadly Bali bombings in 2002 that killed 202 people.

Jolo island, about 950 kms south of Manila, is being used as a springboard for terror attacks by the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya, blamed by Filipino authorities for the spate of bombings on the troubled, but mineral-rich region of Mindanao. (Juley Reyes and Juan Magtanggol)